EU Leaders Fail to Take Action on North African Refugee Influx

The massive flow of refugees was set to be discussed by the European leaders gathered in Brussels for the EU Summit, weeks after hundreds of people drowned while trying to cross the Mediterranean from conflict zones in Africa.

The European Union leaders on Friday failed to take new action to ease the plight of thousands of the boat refugees trying to cross from North Africa. Italian vessels rescued another 700 migrants while the two-day EU summit was going on, according to a report in theepochtimes.com.

The Italian coast guard assisted five crowded boats in the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily carrying a total of 705 migrants, it said. All were brought to safety except for one migrant who reportedly fell into the sea during rescue operations by a Maltese cargo ship, the report said.